LETTER TO THE BISHOPS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCHON
SOME ASPECTS OF THE CHURCH UNDERSTOOD AS COMMUNION

INTRODUCTION

1. The concept of communion (koinonRa), which appears with
a certain prominence in the texts of the Second Vatican Council(1), is very
suitable for expressing the core of the Mystery of the Church, and can certainly
be a key for the renewal of Catholic ecclesiology(2). A deeper appreciation of
the fact that the Church is a Communion is, indeed, a task of special
importance, which provides ample latitude for theological reflection on the
mystery of the Church, "whose nature is such that it always admits new
and deeper exploring"(3). However, some approaches to ecclesiology
suffer from a clearly inadequate awareness of the Church as a mystery of
communion, especially insofar as they have not sufficiently integrated the
concept of communion with the concepts of People of God and of
the Body of Christ, and have not given due importance to the
relationship between the Church as communion and the Church as sacrament.

2. Bearing in mind the doctrinal, pastoral and ecumenical importance of the
different aspects regarding the Church understood as Communion, the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith has considered it opportune, by means of this Letter,
to recall briefly and to clarify, where necessary, some of the fundamental
elements that are to be considered already settled also by those who undertake
the hoped-for theological investigation.

I

THE CHURCH, A MYSTERY OF COMMUNION

3. The concept of communion lies "at the heart of the
Church's selfunderstanding"(4), insofar as it is the Mystery of the
personal union of each human being with the divine Trinity and with the rest of
mankind, initiated with the faith(5), and, having begun as a reality in the
Church on earth, is directed towards its eschatological fulfilment in the
heavenly Church(6).

If the concept of communion, which is not a univocal concept, is to
serve as a key to ecclesiology, it has to be understood within the teaching of
the Bible and the patristic tradition, in which communion always
involves a double dimension: the vertical (communion with God) and the
horizontal (communion among men). It is essential to the Christian
understanding of communion that it be recognised above all as a gift
from God, as a fruit of God's initiative carried out in the paschal mystery. The
new relationship between man and God, that has been established in Christ and is
communicated through the sacraments, also extends to a new relationship among
human beings. As a result, the concept of communion should be such as to
express both the sacramental nature of the Church while "we are away
from the Lord"(7), and also the particular unity which makes the
faithful into members of one and the same Body, the Mystical Body of Christ(8),
an organically structured community(9), "a people brought into one by
the unity of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit"(10), and
endowed with suitable means for its visible and social union(11).

4. Ecclesial communion is at the same time both invisible and visible.
As an invisible reality, it is the communion of each human being with the Father
through Christ in the Holy Spirit, and with the others who are fellow sharers in
the divine nature(12), in the passion of Christ(13), in the same faith(14), in
the same spirit(15). In the Church on earth, there is an intimate relationship
between this invisible communion and the visible communion in the teaching of
the Apostles, in the sacraments and in the hierarchical order. By means of these
divine gifts, which are very visible realities, Christ carries out in different
ways in history his prophetical, priestly and kingly function for the
salvation of mankind(16). This link between the invisible and visible elements
of ecclesial communion constitutes the Church as the Sacrament of
salvation.

From this sacramentality it follows that the Church is not a reality closed
in on herself; rather, she is permanently open to missionary and ecumenical
endeavour, for she is sent to the world to announce and witness, to make present
and spread the mystery of communion which is essential to her: to gather
together all people and all things into Christ(17); so as to be for all an "inseparable
sacrament of unity"(18).

5. Ecclesial communion, into which each individual is introduced by faith
and by Baptism(19), has its root and centre in the Blessed Eucharist. Indeed,
Baptism is an incorporation into a body that the risen Lord builds up and keeps
alive through the Eucharist, so that this body can truly be called the Body of
Christ. The Eucharist is the creative force and source of communion
among the members of the Church, precisely because it unites each one of them
with Christ himself: "Really sharing in the body of the Lord in the
breaking of the eucharistic bread, we are taken up into communion with him and
with one another. 'Because the bread is one, we, though many, are one body, all
of us who partake of the one bread' (1 Cor 10, 17)"(20).

Hence, the pauline expression the Church is the Body of Christ means
that the Eucharist, in which the Lord gives us his Body and transforms us into
one Body(21), is where the Church expresses herself permanently in most
essential form. While present everywhere, she is yet only one, just as
Christ is one.

6. The Church is a Communion of the saints, to use a traditional
expression that is found in the Latin versions of the Apostles' Creed from the
end of the fourth century(22). The common visible sharing in the goods of
salvation (the holy things), and especially in the Eucharist, is the
source of the invisible communion among the sharers (the saints). This
communion brings with it a spiritual solidarity among the members of the Church,
insofar as they are members of one same Body(23), and it fosters their effective
union in charity by constituting "one heart and soul"(24).
Communion tends also towards union in prayer(25), inspired in all by one and the
same Spirit(26), the Holy Spirit "who fills and unites the whole Church"(27).

In its invisible elements, this communion exists not only among the members
of the pilgrim Church on earth, but also between these and all who, having
passed from this world in the grace of the Lord, belong to the heavenly Church
or will be incorporated into it after having been fully purified(28). This
means, among other things, that there is a mutual relationship between
the pilgrim Church on earth and the heavenly Church in the historical-redemptive
mission. Hence the ecclesiological importance not only of Christ's intercession
on behalf of his members(29), but also of that of the saints and, in an eminent
fashion, of the Blessed Virgin Mary's(30). Devotion to the saints, which
is such a strong feature of the piety of the christian people, can thus be seen
to correspond in its very essence to the profound reality of the Church as a
mystery of communion.

II

UNIVERSAL CHURCH AND PARTICULAR CHURCHES

7. The Church of Christ, which we profess in the Creed to be one,
holy, catholic and apostolic, is the universal Church, that is, the worldwide
community of the disciples of the Lord(31), which is present and active amid the
particular characteristics and the diversity of persons, groups, times and
places. Among these manifold particular expressions of the saving presence of
the one Church of Christ, there are to be found, from the times of the Apostles
on, those entities which are in themselves Churches(32), because,
although they are particular, the universal Church becomes present in them with
all its essential elements(33). They are therefore constituted "after
the model of the universal Church"(34), and each of them is "a
portion of the People of God entrusted to a bishop to be guided by him with the
assistance of his clergy"(35).

8. The universal Church is therefore the Body of the Churches(36).
Hence it is possible to apply the concept of communion in analogous fashion
to the union existing among particular Churches, and to see the universal Church
as a Communion of Churches. Sometimes, however, the idea of a "communion
of particular Churches" is presented in such a way as to weaken the concept
of the unity of the Church at the visible and institutional level. Thus it is
asserted that every particular Church is a subject complete in itself, and that
the universal Church is the result of a reciprocal recognition on the
part of the particular Churches. This ecclesiological unilateralism, which
impoverishes not only the concept of the universal Church but also that of the
particular Church, betrays an insufficient understanding of the concept of
communion. As history shows, when a particular Church has sought to become
self-sufficient, and has weakened its real communion with the universal Church
and with its living and visible centre, its internal unity suffers too, and it
finds itself in danger of losing its own freedom in the face of the various
forces of slavery and exploitation(37).

9. In order to grasp the true meaning of the analogical application of the
term communion to the particular Churches taken as a whole, one must
bear in mind above all that the particular Churches, insofar as they are "part
of the one Church of Christ"(38), have a special relationship of "mutual
interiority"(39) with the whole, that is, with the universal Church,
because in every particular Church "the one, holy, catholic and
apostolic Church of Christ is truly present and active"(40). For this
reason, "the universal Church cannot be conceived as the sum of the
particular Churches, or as a federation of particular Churches"(41). It
is not the result of the communion of the Churches, but, in its essential
mystery, it is a reality ontologically and temporally prior to every
individual particular Church.

Indeed, according to the Fathers, ontologically, the Church-mystery,
the Church that is one and unique, precedes creation(42), and gives birth to the
particular Churches as her daughters. She expresses herself in them; she is the
mother and not the product of the particular Churches. Furthermore, the Church
is manifested, temporally, on the day of Pentecost in the community of
the one hundred and twenty gathered around Mary and the twelve Apostles, the
representatives of the one unique Church and the founders-to-be of the local
Churches, who have a mission directed to the world: from the first the Church
speaks all languages(43).

From the Church, which in its origins and its first manifestation is
universal, have arisen the different local Churches, as particular expressions
of the one unique Church of Jesus Christ. Arising within and out of
the universal Church, they have their ecclesiality in it and from it. Hence the
formula of the Second Vatican Council: The Church in and formed out of the
Churches (Ecclesia in et ex Ecclesiis)(44), is inseparable from this other
formula: The Churches in and formed out of the Church (Ecclesia in et ex
Ecclesiis)(45). Clearly the relationship between the universal Church and
the particular Churches is a mystery, and cannot be compared to that which
exists between the whole and the parts in a purely human group or society.

10. Every member of the faithful, through faith and Baptism, is inserted
into the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. He or she does not belong to
the universal Church in a mediate way, through belonging to a
particular Church, but in an immediate way, even though entry into and
life within the universal Church are necessarily brought about in a
particular Church. From the point of view of the Church understood as communion,
this means therefore that the universal communion of the faithful and
the communion of the Churches are not consequences of one another, but
constitute the same reality seen from different viewpoints.

Moreover, one's belonging to a particular Church never conflicts
with the reality that in the Church no-one is a stranger(46): each
member of the faithful, especially in the celebration of the Eucharist, is in
his or her Church, in the Church of Christ, regardless of whether or not
he or she belongs, according to canon law, to the diocese, parish or other
particular community where the celebration takes place. In this sense, without
impinging on the necessary regulations regarding juridical dependence(47),
whoever belongs to one particular Church belongs to all the Churches; since
belonging to the Communion, like belonging to the Church, is never
simply particular, but by its very nature is always universal(48).

III

COMMUNION OF THE CHURCHES, EUCHARIST AND EPISCOPATE

11. Unity, or communion, between the particular Churches in the universal
Church, is rooted not only in the same faith and in the common Baptism, but
above all in the Eucharist and in the Episcopate.

It is rooted in the Eucharist because the eucharistic Sacrifice, while
always performed in a particular community, is never a celebration of that
community alone. In fact, the community, in receiving the eucharistic presence
of the Lord, receives the entire gift of salvation and shows, even in its
lasting visible particular form, that it is the image and true presence of the
one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church(49).

The rediscovery of a eucharistic ecclesiology, though being of
undoubted value, has however sometimes placed unilateral emphasis on the
principle of the local Church. It is claimed that, where the Eucharist is
celebrated, the totality of the mystery of the Church would be made present in
such a way as to render any other principle of unity or universality
non-essential. Other conceptions, under different theological influences,
present this particular view of the Church in an even more radical form, going
as far as to hold that gathering together in the name of Jesus (cf. Mt
18, 20) is the same as generating the Church: the assembly which in the name of
Christ becomes a community, would hold within itself the powers of the Church,
including power as regards the Eucharist. The Church, some say, would arise "from
base level". These and other similar errors do not take sufficiently into
account that it is precisely the Eucharist that renders all self-sufficiency on
the part of the particular Churches impossible. Indeed, the unicity and
indivisibility of the eucharistic Body of the Lord implies the unicity of his
mystical Body, which is the one and indivisible Church. From the eucharistic
centre arises the necessary openness of every celebrating community, of every
particular Church; by allowing itself to be drawn into the open arms of the
Lord, it achieves insertion into his one and undivided Body. For this reason
too, the existence of the Petrine ministry, which is a foundation of the unity
of the Episcopate and of the universal Church, bears a profound correspondence
to the eucharistic character of the Church.

12. In fact, the unity of the Church is also rooted in the unity of the
Episcopate(50). As the very idea of the Body of the Churches calls for
the existence of a Church that is Head of the Churches, which is
precisely the Church of Rome, "foremost in the universal communion of
charity"(51), so too the unity of the Episcopate involves the existence
of a Bishop who is Head of the Body or College of Bishops, namely the
Roman Pontiff(52). Of the unity of the Episcopate, as also of the unity of the
entire Church, "the Roman Pontiff, as the successor of Peter, is a
perpetual and visible source and foundation"(53). This unity of the
Episcopate is perpetuated through the centuries by means of the apostolic
succession, and is also the foundation of the identity of the Church of
every age with the Church built by Christ upon Peter and upon the other
Apostles(54).

13. The Bishop is a visible source and foundation of the unity of the
particular Church entrusted to his pastoral ministry(55). But for each
particular Church to be fully Church, that is, the particular presence of the
universal Church with all its essential elements, and hence constituted after
the model of the universal Church, there must be present in it, as a proper
element, the supreme authority of the Church: the Episcopal College "together
with their head, the Supreme Pontiff, and never apart from him"(56).
The Primacy of the Bishop of Rome and the episcopal College are proper elements
of the universal Church that are "not derived from the particularity of
the Churches"(57), but are nevertheless interior to each
particular Church. Consequently "we must see the ministry of the
Successor of Peter, not only as a 'global' service, reaching each particular
Church from 'outside', as it were, but as belonging already to the essence
of each particular Church from 'within'"(58). Indeed, the ministry of the
Primacy involves, in essence, a truly episcopal power, which is not only
supreme, full and universal, but also immediate, over everybody, whether
Pastors or other faithful(59). The ministry of the Successor of Peter as
something interior to each particular Church is a necessary expression
of that fundamental mutual interiority between universal Church and
particular Church(60).

14. The unity of the Eucharist and the unity of the Episcopate with
Peter and under Peter are not independent roots of the unity of the Church,
since Christ instituted the Eucharist and the Episcopate as essentially
interlinked realities(61). The Episcopate is one, just as the Eucharist
is one: the one Sacrifice of the one Christ, dead and risen. The liturgy
expresses this reality in various ways, showing, for example, that every
celebration of the Eucharist is performed in union not only with the proper
Bishop, but also with the Pope, with the episcopal order, with all the clergy,
and with the entire people(62). Every valid celebration of the Eucharist
expresses this universal communion with Peter and with the whole Church,
or objectively calls for it, as in the case of the Christian Churches
separated from Rome(63).

IV

UNITY AND DIVERSITY IN ECCLESIAL COMMUNION

15. "The universality of the Church involves, on the one hand, a
most solid unity, and on the other, a plurality and a
diversification, which do not obstruct unity, but rather confer upon it the
character of 'communion'"(64). This plurality refers both to the
diversity of ministries, charisms, and forms of life and apostolate within each
particular Church, and to the diversity of traditions in liturgy and culture
among the various particular Churches(65).

Fostering a unity that does not obstruct diversity, and acknowledging and
fostering a diversification that does not obstruct unity but rather enriches it,
is a fundamental task of the Roman Pontiff for the whole Church(66), and without
prejudice to the general law of the Church itself, of each Bishop in the
particular Church entrusted to his pastoral ministry(67). But the building up
and safeguarding of this unity, on which diversification confers the character
of communion, is also a task of everyone in the Church, because all are called
to build it up and preserve it each day, above all by means of that charity
which is "the bond of perfection"(68).

16. For a more complete vision of this aspect of ecclesial communion -unity
in diversity- one needs to bear in mind that there are institutions and
communities established by the Apostolic Authority for specific pastoral tasks.
They belong as such to the universal Church, though their members are
also members of the particular Churches where they live and work. The manner of
belonging to the particular Churches, with its own particular flexibility(69),
takes different juridical forms. But it does not erode the unity of the
particular Church founded on the Bishop; rather, it helps endow this unity with
the interior diversification which is a feature of communion(70).

In the context of the Church understood as communion, consideration should
also be given to the many institutes and societies that express the charisms of
consecrated life and apostolic life, with which the Holy Spirit enriches the
Mystical Body of Christ. Although these do not belong to the hierarchical
structure of the Church, they belong to its life and holiness(71).

Given their supradiocesan character, rooted in the Petrine ministry, all
these ecclesial realities are also elements at the service of communion among
the various particular Churches.

V

ECCLESIAL COMMUNION AND ECUMENISM

17. "The Church knows that she is joined in many ways to the
baptized who are honoured by the name of Christian, but who do not however
profess the Catholic faith in its entirety or have not preserved unity or
communion under the successor of Peter"(72). Among the non-Catholic
Churches and Christian communities, there are indeed to be found many elements
of the Church of Christ, which allow us, amid joy and hope, to acknowledge the
existence of a certain communion, albeit imperfect(73).

This communion exists especially with the Eastern orthodox Churches, which,
though separated from the See of Peter, remain united to the Catholic Church by
means of very close bonds, such as the apostolic succession and a valid
Eucharist, and therefore merit the title of particular Churches(74). Indeed,
"through the celebration of the Eucharist of the Lord in each of these
Churches, the Church of God is built up and grows in stature"(75), for
in every valid celebration of the Eucharist the one, holy, catholic and
apostolic Church becomes truly present(76).

Since, however, communion with the universal Church, represented by Peter's
Successor, is not an external complement to the particular Church, but one of
its internal constituents, the situation of those venerable Christian
communities also means that their existence as particular Churches is wounded.
The wound is even deeper in those ecclesial communities which have not retained
the apostolic succession and a valid Eucharist. This in turn also injures the
Catholic Church, called by the Lord to become for all "one flock"
with "one shepherd"(77), in that it hinders the complete
fulfilment of its universality in history.

18. This situation seriously calls for ecumenical commitment on the part of
everyone, with a view to achieving full communion in the unity of the Church;
that unity "which Christ bestowed on his Church from the beginning.
This unity, we believe, subsists in the Catholic Church as something she can
never lose, and we hope that it will continue to increase until the end of time"(78).
In this ecumenical commitment, important priorities are prayer, penance, study,
dialogue and collaboration, so that, through a new conversion to the Lord, all
may be enabled to recognise the continuity of the Primacy of Peter in his
successors, the Bishops of Rome, and to see the Petrine ministry fulfilled, in
the manner intended by the Lord, as a worldwide apostolic service, which is
present in all the Churches from within, and which, while preserving its
substance as a divine institution, can find expression in various ways according
to the different circumstances of time and place, as history has shown.

CONCLUSION

19. The Blessed Virgin Mary is the model of ecclesial communion in faith, in
charity and in union with Christ(79). "Eternally present in the mystery
of Christ"(80), She is, in the midst of the Apostles, at the very heart
of the Church at its birth(81) and of the Church of all ages. Indeed, "the
Church was congregated in the upper part (of the Cenacle) with Mary, who was the
Mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. We cannot therefore speak of the Church
unless Mary, the mother of the Lord, is present there, with the Lord's brethren"(82).

In bringing this Letter to a close, the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, echoing the final words of the Constitution Lumen
gentium(83), invites all the Bishops and, through them, all the faithful,
especially the theologians, to entrust to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin
their commitment to communion and to theological reflection upon communion.

The Sovereign Pontiff John Paul II, at the Audience granted to the
undersigned Cardinal Prefect, approved this Letter, agreed upon in the ordinary
meeting of this Congregation, and ordered its publication.

Rome, at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 28th may 1992.

(3) PAUL VI, Opening address for the second period of the Second
Vatican Council, 29-IX-1963: AAS 55 (1963) p. 848. Cf., for example, the
perspectives for further reflection indicated by the INTERNATIONAL THEOLOGICAL
COMMISSION, in its Themata selecta de ecclesiologia: "Documenta
(1969-1985)", Lib. Ed. Vaticana 1988, pp. 462-559.

(5) 1 Jn 1, 3: "that which we have seen and heard, we
proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our
fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ". Cf. also
1 Cor 1, 9; JOHN PAUL II, Ap. Exh. Christifideles laici,
30-XII-1988, n. 19; SYNOD OF BISHOPS (1985), Relatio finalis, II,

(19) Eph 4, 4-5: "There is one body and one Spirit,
just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one
faith, one baptism". Cf. also Mk 16, 16.

(20) Const. Lumen gentium, n. 7/b. The Eucharist is the
sacrament "through which in the present age the Church is made"
(ST. AUGUSTINE, Contra Faustum, 12, 20: PL 42, 265). "Our
sharing in the body and blood of Christ leads to no other end than that of
transforming us into that which we receive" (ST. LEO THE GREAT, Sermo
63, 7: PL 54, 357).

(27) ST. THOMAS AQUINAS, De Veritate, q. 29, a. 4 c. Indeed,
"lifted up on the cross and glorified, the Lord Jesus poured forth the
Spirit whom he had promised, and through whom he has called and gathered
together the people of the New Covenant, which is the Church, into a unity of
faith, hope and charity" (Decr. Unitatis redintegratio, n.
2/b).

(43) Cf. Acts 2, 1ff. ST IRENAEUS, Adversus haereses,
III, 17, 2 (PG 7, 929-930): "at Pentecost (...) all nations (...) had
become a marvellous choir to intone a hymn of praise to God in perfect harmony,
because the Holy Spirit had brought distances to nought, eliminated discordant
notes and transformed the varieties of the peoples into the first-fruits to be
offered to the Father". Cf. also ST. FULGENTIUS OF RUSPE, Sermo 8
in Pentecoste, 2-3: PL 65, 743-744.

(44) Const. Lumen gentium, n. 23/a: "it is in these
and formed out of them that the one and unique Catholic Church exists".
This doctrine develops in the same line of continuity what had been stated
previously, for example by PIUS X, Enc. Mystici Corporis, as quoted, p.
211: "out of which the one Catholic Church exists and is composed".

(68) Col 3, 14. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS, Exposit. in Symbol.
Apost., a. 9: "The Church is one (...) through the unity of
charity, because all are joined in the love of God, and among themselves in
mutual love".